Audiobook Review: END OF WATCH by Stephen King (Narr. Will Patton)

Five Stars. That was a great trilogy. King is at the top of the game, and the same goes for his audiobooks. It will be hard to say which of the three books I like better, though they were all outstanding. In this one, the character development of Holly was the most interesting, but it seemed the rest of our main characters remained where we left them, with only a new challenge to fight. This wasn’t a big disappointment, because I still thought the read was terrific, but when comparing the other books in this series, I guess I’d have to go with liking the first two more.

Where this one stood out was in how well King brought the main villain of the series back, and more powerful than ever. No spoilers for those who haven’t read the previous books. The threat that was hinted at in the end of the previous book became plausible enough to be frightening in its execution.

End of Watch is King, but isn’t what most people would call Horror. You will be deeply concerned for our heroes’ lives, and with numerous instances of unrelenting tragedy filtered throughout, you’ll be kept on edge to the end to see who survives.

The narrator is one of my new favorites. His gruff voice fits the beat cop vibe for our main character, and even grows on you in his characterization for the introverted genius, Holly. After this listen, it will be difficult to find another I’ll like as much, both in quality of story and in narration.

Timothy C. Ward is a former executive producer and Hugo Nominee of Adventures in SciFi Publishing. He has been broke and lost on the other side of the world and now dreams of greater adventures from his keyboard in Des Moines, Iowa. This summer, he released his second Sand Divers book, Scavenger: A.I., where two parents use an ancient technology to fight a reproducing A.I. while trying to resurrect their deceased infant, and a new series that begins with Godsknife: Revolt, an apocalyptic battle for godhood in the rift between Iowa and the Abyss. Sign up for his newsletter for news, sales, giveaways and more: http://www.timothycward.com/newsletter/.